ABILENE — The Hardin-Simmons University volleyball team continued its run through the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament on Friday, downing Mary Hardin-Baylor 25-17, 16-25, 25-22 and 25-19.

HSU is now 28-3 on the year.

The Cowgirls were able to establish a pattern of dominance from the first serve of the match, and quickly jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Freshman Lauren Powell and her Lady Crusader teammates were able to get into the match but were only able to score in spurts.

HSU, meanwhile, seemed able to score almost at will, rattling off three-, four- and five-point runs with precision execution. The Lady Cru did little to help their cause with 10 errors in the first game for a negative-.053 attack percentage.

Madison Reyes, Christine Sas and Hannah Hornsby led the attack for HSU for the second night in a row, combining for 36 kills. Defensively, the Cowgirls hustled for 16 block assists, with Morgan Watts recording five in the effort.

Mary Hardin-Baylor proved a worthy opponent in Game 2, opening an 8-3 lead fueled by Powell, who had an ace and several kills. Sapphire Reid and Christina Miller helped supply the offense as the Lady Cru evened the match at one game apiece.

The third game proved to be as decisive as it was hard-fought. The back-and-forth action energized the crowd, which was treated to the closest game of the match.

"We're not happy with tonight," UMHB coach Rob Frost said. "But at the same time, that's a tough team we're playing."

After falling behind 14-11 in the third game, HSU managed to tie the score at 14. Tori Martinez made a huge kill that ignited her teammates and sparked a scoring run that quickly put HSU up 22-16.

The Lady Cru worked themselves back into the game, but Sas put an exclamation point on an HSU win with a thunderous spike.

"Christine Sas and Madison Reyes just had a really great game," HSU coach Sabrina Bingham said.

With momentum firmly in their favor and an enthusiastic crowd helping fuel that momentum, the Cowgirls seemed poised for a quick victory in Game 4. Mary Hardin-Baylor fell behind 8-1 but managed to claw its way back into the game, pulling within two points at 14-12. Reyes and company held firm, however, weathering the storm and continuing to add points.

"Reyes was matched up really well yesterday, and they had some good blockers today, but she was able to get by them," Bingham said.

Before eventually falling, the Lady Cru were able to stave off game-point twice. But HSU finally claimed victory when a tip by Tori Martinez fell to the court for the score.

The already-standing crowd flooded the floor in response to the thrilling win.

Now through to the finals, the Cowgirls will play for their third consecutive ASC title at 3 p.m. today. They'll play the winner of Texas-Dallas (26-6) and Mary Hardin-Baylor (22-7), which will have to beat top-seeded HSU twice to take the crown.